Well THERE'S your problem!

[captpackrat]

The past several days I've been having trouble with the brakes on my car.  I was wondering if maybe Jensen had screwed something up.  The brakes were very spongey and it seemed to take much longer than usual to stop.

This morning as I approached the turn onto the highway, I was nearly unable to stop in time.  I pulled onto the road, and since it was clear, sped up to 60-70 MPH and then slammed on the brakes.  Sure enough, even with the pedal to the floor, it took a fair ways to stop.  Normally when you slam on the brakes in my car, it feels like the world is coming to an end: the nose dives sharply, everything that's not nailed down goes flying, you get thrown into your seatbelt and the ABS kicks in and starts growling.  This time, the car just settled gently, no flying papers, no pressure on the seatbelt, and no ABS.  I did this a couple times, and got the same results each time.

The brakes still worked adequately to stop in normal driving (though I wouldn't be able to count on them in an emergency), so I decided to drive into town to Jensen to see if I could get it fixed.

As I approached town, the speed limit drops from 55 down to 30, and since I know that area is a speed trap, I dropped down to 30.  But my car kept speeding up.  Normally, I can coast through town without touching the gas or the brake, but today I was having to ride the brakes to keep it under 40!

I was beginning to wonder if maybe the throttle body was stuck open or something.  A fairly easy repair, but I really don't need the expense.

Then I noticed that the floor mat was curled a bit in the corner, and it was ever so slightly pressing against the accelerator.  All conveniently hidden behind my foot.  Well THERE'S your problem!  I'd been trying to fight the engine for the past several days.

Then it fell into place, I wasn't getting stuck behind an endless string of slow idiots on the freeway the other day, I kept having to ride the brakes because the car was accelerating!

Hey, at least it was a free fix.

Comments

[bluedeer.livejournal.com]

My floor mat does that occasionally. Sometimes it sits behind the brakes so that I can't press them down properly, sometimes it's behind the accelerator. Floor Mats Suck!

[dakhun.livejournal.com]

My car has a couple of hooks on the floor that grab onto holes in the floor mat. That stops it from sliding forward. I had floor mat issues a lot in my previous car.

[fangwolf57.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah I have had that happen before too. I have even had a water bottle role on the floor and get stuck behind the break pedal. Scary

[gafennec.livejournal.com]

I meant to respond to this the other night. But that is exactly the reason I never use car matts when I drive. Doing the heel & toe thing tends to bunch the matts up under the pedals and annoy the heck out of me. :)